Merton Priory

Abstract

• This new, full colour booklet summarises the history of the priory, using documentary and archaeological evidence, and the surviving remains, and includes the results of the latest research on the site. The Augustinian priory of Merton was founded in the early 12th century and the first stone church was established on the present site in 1117. The priory had strong royal connections, playing host to ‘state occasions’ from the 12th to the 15th century, and Henry III had his own private quarters at Merton by 1258. Excavations have taken place at Merton since the 1920s, the most extensive in 1986–90 in response to development proposals.